Fiat Abarth 600e Struggles to Spark Interest in 2025

Fiat Abarth 600e Struggles to Spark Interest in 2025​

Sales Fall Flat for Electric Hot Hatch in Europe​

When Abarth unveiled its all-new 600e late last year, there was hope the sporty subcompact would breathe new life into the brand’s all-electric future. On paper, the specs seemed promising: 280 horsepower, a mechanical limited-slip differential, and aggressive styling wrapped into a compact, Euro-flavored package. But here we are, halfway through 2025, and things aren’t looking good.

Fiat Abarth 600e Struggles to Spark Interest in 2025

When Abarth unveiled its all-new 600e late last year, there was hope the sporty subcompact would breathe new life into the brand’s all-electric future. On paper, the specs seemed promising: 280 horsepower, a mechanical limited-slip differential, and aggressive styling wrapped into a compact...

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[patfromigh]

Abarth is in serious trouble. The sales collapse suggests a change of course, but how can that be done in view of the looming EU zero emissions mandates? Any hybrid alternative will be limited to the power levels of the Abarth's vanilla Fiat equivalents. The Stellantis overlords cheapened out when the Fiat 600 and its corporate cousins were developed to sit on the outdated eCMP platforms. This situation also leaves the Abarth 600e competing with those eCMP cousins using the same powertrains and those powertrains are also installed on the updated lower cost "Smart" platform vehicles. It seems given the choice between an Abarth 600e and the Alfa Junior, Europeans choose the Alfa.

The EV party is pretty much over in the American market and I imagine a $40,000 B-segment product is a hard sell while consumers here are holding their noses at pickup trucks at the same price level. The Abarth 600e, being based upon the eCMP platform, is a non-starter for export to America, even before the price and powertrains are considered. Abarth is finding some success in Latin America with a model based on a local product which uses an energy source the public finds acceptable.

Both the Abarth 500e and 600e models would benefit greatly from the rudimentary mild hybrid system used in the upcoming Fiat 500 hybrid, but not with that models 70hp IC engine. The six speed manual will find favor with enthusists, but an Abarth model will need twice the power to be acceptable. A higher output setup with a larger engine will find meeting the EU standards difficult. What is the possibility on a return on investment when US sales of Fiats are so paltry? A manual transmission version will be a tiny fraction of even that amount.

Another way forward would be some sort of plugin hybrid option that uses much less battery capacity. Such a setup would have to carry the load for export sales.